


Say You'll Haunt Me

by butteredbandits



Category: Compilation of Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy VII
Genre: First Kiss, M/M, vincent being melodramatic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-28
Updated: 2020-03-28
Packaged: 2021-02-28 22:22:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,167
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23364649
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/butteredbandits/pseuds/butteredbandits
Summary: “Can't sleep?” Vincent's voice is like smooth whiskey, it sends warmth burning through Cloud that settles in his chest and low in his stomach.“Do you even need to ask anymore?” Cloud replies with a rueful laugh.
Relationships: Cloud Strife/Vincent Valentine
Comments: 8
Kudos: 140





	Say You'll Haunt Me

**Author's Note:**

> Title from the song Say You'll Haunt Me by Stone Sour ;) 
> 
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eEn-nTkbEM0

Cloud gives up on trying to sleep after the third time the nightmares wake him, leaving him shaking, sweating, and with the start of a headache pressing at his temples. He lays in his bunk for awhile, considering the pros and cons of knocking himself out with a rock and letting someone heal him in the morning. The tent walls suddenly feel like they're about to close in on him so he tugs on his boots and emerges into the cold night air with a shiver. His sigh turns into a small puff of steam and floats away towards the stars.  
  
Vincent is sitting next to the remnants of the campfire, those blood-red eyes of his reflecting the soft orange light of dying embers. He always manages to look so dramatic wherever he sits, weighing his sins. Cloud doesn't want to admit it, but he's beautiful in that sorrow of his. Vincent's pale skin is practically glowing in the silver moonlight. His dark hair is a stark contrast, cascading around him and gently fluttering in the wind.

They always seem to find each other in the middle of the night. Cloud unable to sleep, Vincent on the night watch. It's been weeks with this nightly routine now, and Cloud is struggling to deny the way he feels about the other man. It's no longer simple comfort he's hunting after when he sits next to Vincent and waits to be invited under the soft weight of his cloak.

“Can't sleep?” Vincent's voice is like smooth whiskey, it sends warmth burning through Cloud that settles in his chest and low in his stomach.

“Do you even need to ask anymore?” Cloud replies with a rueful laugh.

Vincent looks away for a moment to hide the small smile that's managed to appear on his face, and lifts up the cloak. He'd never admit it but it makes him feel useful when Cloud comes to him like this.

Cloud slides up next to him in an instant and nestles against Vincent's right side. Vincent's arm wraps around his shoulders, bringing the cloak with it. Cloud grabs at the rough fabric and pulls it up to his chin, closes his eyes and breathes the scent in. Dirt and gunpowder mostly, but there's a subtle spicy smell that's just so completely Vincent that he can't get enough of. The fabric is heavy and traps heat well, perfect for a sleepless and frigid night like this.

Moments pass in perfect, companionable silence. Cloud watches the stars, listens to the sound of wind rushing through the leaves and focuses on the way that Vincent breathes. Slower than the average person but perfectly even. It's meditative, helps drown out the white noise of his mind and keep him in the present.

“This is becoming a habit.” Vincent's voice draws Cloud out of his thoughts. There's little emotion in the way he says it and Cloud's heart seizes at the thought that Vincent might want this to stop.

“Does it bother you?” Cloud asks, trying to match Vincent's cool tone of voice to hide his sudden burst of anxiety.

“No.” Vincent shakes his head and turns to look at Cloud. “Unlike me however, you require sleep.” His hand squeezes on Cloud's shoulder comfortingly, which only serves to make his heart race that much faster.

“I'd rather be out here than tossing and turning all night.” Cloud admits.

Then he chases an impulse he'd been fighting for days and slides his arm around Vincent's waist and presses their sides together. Vincent is surprisingly skinny under that swath of red, and Cloud wonders if he'd be half as intimating without it. He wants to steal away the cloak, sleep with it wrapped around him if he can't have Vincent with it.

Vincent sucks in a sharp breath and tenses. For a terrifying moment Cloud thinks he's fucked up but then Vincent relaxes and his hand slides down Cloud's arm, rests at his elbow and he pulls him just a bit closer.

“If you say so.” Vincent says. “I'm not the best company.” He sounds genuinely down on himself and Cloud doesn't know how to handle that when the taller man's hold on him says 'stay'.

“I appreciate this. The quiet, with you.” Cloud can feel his cheeks turning red, his heart racing in his chest at the confession.

Vincent's fingers close around his forearm, and Cloud hears Vincent's breath stop for longer than usual. He looks up, and tries to discern what thoughts are hiding behind those forlorn scarlet eyes. It's hard to figure out with the collar of the cloak hiding the rest of his expression.  
  
“Cloud... I shouldn't.” Vincent's velvet smooth voice _cracks_ and it nearly makes Cloud wince.

“Shouldn't what?” Cloud asks even though he knows what's been implied, and he's leaning up, his other hand reaching for the collar of Vincent's cloak.

Vincent stays put, watching with trepidation as Cloud pulls the collar down and exposes his chin to the cool night air. Their eyes meet and Cloud feels the longing surge through him, through his heart, straight through his gut. Sharper than any blade.

“Be with you. Like this, I'll drag you down into my darkness.” Vincent turns his face away.

Cloud wonders about his own sanity for a moment, as he's currently trying to kiss a man that refers to his own personal demons as his 'darkness' like some melodramatic teenager. But Vincent's demons aren't metaphors for his traumatic past, they're all too real. Somehow he's not scared. His life has been full of life-or-death and planet-ending consequences lately so dealing with Vincent's baggage hardly seems like a struggle in comparison.

“Like I'm any better.” Cloud tries to play it off. He wants this, if Vincent will just let him in.

“You ar-” Vincent turns back to face him and Cloud cuts off his next words with the kiss he's been daydreaming about for days.

Vincent freezes up for all of a split second and then he's kissing back and Cloud thrills at the cool sensation of those pale lips working against his own. He's moaning into the kiss before their tongues even meet and he knows he should be embarrassed, but he doesn't care, he just wants to drown in him.  
  
“Cloud...” Vincent's voice pitches lower than he's ever heard it before and it's _his name._ It makes Cloud's head spin with longing.

“Do you really want this? Want me?” Vincent's hand moves down to his hip, cold and calloused fingertips dipping under the waist band of his pants.

Cloud's been struggling to be sure of himself over the course of their journey but right now, this feels right and he wants it so bad it feels like he's burning up from the inside out. He meets Vincent's searching gaze with his own determined look.

“Yes, don't stop.” Cloud brings their lips back together and moves to straddle Vincent's lap, kissing him like it's the last thing he's ever going to do.


End file.
